My Favorite Pillow & Rug Pairings

There's such a big payoff when mixing patterns, which I love to do in every room of my house. But sometimes it can be overwhelming to know how to coordinate a space together. Don't be afraid of pairing patterns on patterns when it comes to pillows and rugs!

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Basic rules apply for applying complementary colors and a range of scales, but there can be even more depth to it than that. I'll walk you through some of the pillars that I swear by for pairing pillows and rugs.

Plus, I've loved seeing your response to our new CLJ x Loloi Spring 2024 collection. Keep reading to see eight mood boards I curated that coordinate newly launched pillows with our rugs!

Rug + Pillow Pairings: Find a Scale and Texture for Every Space

I consider texture to be like a pattern when I'm mixing and matching. Some of our rugs are highly textured like our Judy rugs, while some like the Briggs rugs have have a lower texture but a high-pattern design on them. Both of them can be treated as a pattern. If you have a large pattern like our Polly rugs, you might want to mix that with a smaller patterned pillow like one of the ruffle Dinah pillows. Or try a solid velvet Liza pillow to give the space some calming features.

When a rug or pillow has a loose texture, that can also read as a pattern. For instance, the Bradley collection has some options with a high-low pile. To that, I'd bring in a heavier pattern in one of the most textured pillows — like the Ellery — to create a dynamic feel with more pattern play.

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You'll see the Judy Natural/Ivory rug in Polly's room: it's a highly textured rug and has a large-scale pattern. So I paired it with a set of two matching Dinah pillows in a soft colorway and a textured Harvey lumbar pillow. That makes them secondary to the bolder rug. And the rug is secondary to the wallpaper, let's be honest. Each individual element works together even as they stand alone in the space.

Here are some of my perfect pairings for CLJ x Loloi rugs and pillows, along with some basic principles you can apply to any combination.

Polly Graphite/Pebble Rug

Polly Graphite/Pebble Rug | Ivory/Black Pillow | Ivory Velvet Pillow | Cinnamon Velvet Pillow | Red Textured Pillow

Because the rug is darker, I like to bring in some lightness. I chose a solid cream velvet Liza pillow and a smaller patterned black and white Dinah pillow, which echoes the check pattern in the rug. To complete the look, I chose a contrasting color to balance it all out. This warm merlot color is gorgeous in the solid velvet and the patterned pillow offers a different scale than the check.

Francis Spa/Granite Diamond Rug

Francis Spa/Granite Rug | Plaid Fern Pillow | Moss Dinah Lumbar Pillow | Gray Velvet Liza Pillow | Blue Harvey Pillow

This diamond-patterned rug has greens, blues and creams in it. I really wanted to bring out the greens but also highlight the little bits of spa blue in the rug. I pulled in three different patterned pillows in neutral tones. They work together because they range from small to medium to large patterns in similar colorways.

Briggs Rug in Mist/Ivory

Briggs Mist/Ivory Rug | Blue Textured Harvey Pillow | Blue Velvet Liza Pillow | Plaid Fern Pillow

The Briggs rug is so versatile that it can read almost like a solid. There is a really small pattern in it, so you can go anywhere with this rug. I brought in a creamy large-patterned pillow with a darker blue and lighter blue to play up the blues in the rug. Any color velvet pillow will work with this rug!

Polly Smoke/Sand Rug

Polly Smoke/Sand Rug | Textured Poe Pillow | Harvey Lumbar Pillow | Ivory Velvet Liza Pillow

This is one of my favorite combinations because it has a really big play on texture. The rug has a large-scale pattern that makes it read almost like a texture. The lumbar pillow is a solid color, but it's fun to pair this cream texture with another cream "texture" in the rug. Complete the look by bringing in one other pillow in a contrasting pattern.

Judy Rug in Natural/Ivory

Judy Natural/Ivory Rug | Dinah Ivory/Black Pillow | Cinnamon Velvet Liza Pillow | Dinah Ocean/Blue Pillow

This assortment is based on the essence of primary colors with a twist. The jute in the rug can read as a yellow, and we have red and blue pillows to round out the color wheel. It's a really easy color scheme that doesn't have to be juvenile or too saturated. I kept the patterns smaller in the pillows since the rug is so bold.

Jules Ink/Terracotta Rug

Jules Ink/Terracotta Rug | Plaid Cricket Pillow | Ivory Velvet Liza Pillow | Dinah Chocolate/Latte Lumbar Pillow | Rust Velvet Liza Pillow

This vintage-inspired rug has a lot of warm tones in it. Plus it has a really organic pattern so it pairs well with geometrics. Because the rug has a lot of smaller motifs in it, I wanted to start with a grounding color like the dark brown. (If you have a couch in a solid, that can also act as your grounding color.) Then I wanted to bring in a fun plaid to counteract the more organic shapes. Finally, the two solid warm-toned pillow colors play well with the rug and balance out all of the pattern.

Bradley Rug in Ivory/Beige

Bradley Ivory/Beige Rug | Dinah Ocean/Blue Pillow | Ellery Clay Pillow | Harvey Lumbar Pillow | Blue Plaid Earl Pillow

This pairing offers a complementary color scheme and range of pattern scales. Blue and orange are complementary colors and will pop against a neutral rug. If you have blue pillows in a room, bring in an orange tone to warm up the space. Since each piece features a pattern, I made sure we used a range of sizes. The rug has a really large geometric pattern, so we balance that out with smaller patterns in the Dinah ruffle pillows. The lumbar is a solid texture with a small pattern. The plaid offers the medium-scale pattern for a seamless flow.

Humphrey Forest/Multi Rug

Humphrey Forest/Multi Rug | Green Velvet Liza Pillow | Gray Velvet Liza Pillow | Ivory Velvet Liza Pillow | Cinnamon Velvet Liza Pillow | Textured Poe Pillow | Dinah Chocolate/Latte Lumbar Pillow

The rug has a large-patterned flannel look along with highly saturated colors. One trick I recommend is to pull out all of your colors from the rug to coordinate in pillows. This would work really well with a neutral sofa to bring those colors back into the room. Most of these pillows are solids to balance out the high pattern on the floor. The small ruffle Dinah in a dark pattern grounds everything. Then I brought in one medium pattern that ties well with the smaller ruffle pillow to extend the color out.

One final tip that you may have noticed: When mixing and matching pillows together, I like bringing in one from every collection. That's why you'll often see a velvet Liza pillow with a ruffled Dinah pillow. Or a textured clean lumbar pillow with a bolder square color or pattern. There are so many combinations to suit your space when it comes to matching pillows and rugs!